The focus of the first Foundations level (F1) is on learning or relearning (for children/adults with an acquired disability) a repertoire of basic movement skills.

The focus of this second F stage is to expose a child to greater movement challenges in order to expand and refine their basic movement skills. Similar to the previous F1 phase, this is usually achieved through a mix of unorganized sporting activity (Deliberate Play) at home, in the local park or at school, and organized age-appropriate sport (e.g. in a club).

In the final foundational level (F3), sport-specific skills are being refined and progressed. The young athlete is commited to regular training and formal or informal competition. This level is usually the beginning of most club-based sporting experiences.

In the T1 phase, athletes typically exhibit demonstrable talents in the physical, physiological, psychological, and skill domain that indicate potential in high-performance sport. This can occur through formal testing or informal processes, including self-identification triggered by an individual’s self-awareness of their ability to outperform their peers.

Recognizing the complexity and limitations of athlete prediction, T1 represents only an initial assessment of potential and should ideally be confirmed in the next FTEM phase, T2.

Confirmation of talent (T2) is seen as complementary to T1, with evidence-based testing (T1) supplemented by the subjective judgments of coaches and talent scouts within the training and competition environment. There are no set time frames for the T2 process, although months rather than days or weeks are recommended.

During the T2 phase, athletes are observed in a trial period of a specific training and competition environment to demonstrate and confirm their “trainability” (sport-specific skill acquisition), commitment, motivation, ability to be coached, and other positive psychological, self-management and relevant traits. This phase is crucial to confirm whether the initial impression of potential can be sustained. Verification of talent by a known benchmark ideally leads to formal support of an athlete within the T3 phase.

Having been confirmed as potential elite athletes (T2), they now are commited to high training volumes and strive for continuous performance improvements. This phase arguably contains the largest cohort of future elite athletes, but it is also very delicate, as priorities regarding funding and support for athletes are preferentially focused on the ends of the pathway rather than the middle. This often leads to a number of deficiencies in key development areas such as coaching, competition, equipment, etc.

The quality of the development environment is critical at this level to reduce potential dropout and underachievement. Given the measurable lack of attention often provided to athletes at this phase of development, T3 represents a fertile area for future investment and potential international advantage.

Gaining formalised and professional support for continued development is the key feature of T4. An athlete’s efforts to improve their performance at T3 are essentially rewarded at T4 where they may earn an athletic scholarship at a university or an institute/academy of sport. Similarly, they may be drafted into a professional team or an elite training squad greatly enhancing their chances of becoming an ‘elite’ athlete. Performing well at a key event (eg a major championship) can also be a critical milestone that leads to the increased likelihood of being noticed and supported by the sport or the high performance sport system.

Maximisation of interaction between pre-elite and elite athletes (‘vertical integration’) is critical to advance a T4 athlete’s development. In addition, T4 presents a critical transition point into open international competition (E1).

The E1 phase represents the achievement of an elite athlete status at the highest level of international or professional sport.
While these athletes have achieved an elite status, they have yet to achieve an international podium result or succeed in a professional sport, such as winning a national championship or being recognized as the “best player of the season.” Given this, targeted interventions such as tailored support and education before, during, and after an athlete’s initial exposure to key high level events is considered paramount to converting E1 athletes into medal winning athletes (E2).

An E2 athlete in an Olympic or Paralympic sport has won a medal at a major international competition, e.g. World Championships, Olympic or Paralympic Games. In professional sports, E2 are recognized athletes in their sport.